


Zootopia Fantasy Alternate Universe

by Ziyongliu



Category: Alice in Wonderland (Movies - Burton), Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/F, F/M, Interspecies Relationship(s), M/M, Multi, Other, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-18 03:16:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 5,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11865528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ziyongliu/pseuds/Ziyongliu
Summary: A book of lore where many stories could happen.





	1. Introduction

This is a book of lore where I'm going to base all of my Fantasy AU projects. I already made 'Dawn's Dagger' but I'm going to rewrite it all basing on how I build this fantasy world. Zootopia style characters apply which means the sentient animals are only mammals.

Characters included in this book could be from other movies (as long as they're mammals) and original characters but most would be coming from Zootopia. I'll tie my future works to this after I'm finished.


	2. The Birth of Zoolann

The gods were beings that resembled no animal. The closest they looked similar with were the primates only that their bodies were hairless and their limbs: much shorter. The gods weren’t perfect beings themselves. They conflicted with one another—fought celestial wars and behaved as any animal would.

Their bloods were precious and their population, fixed. The gods weren’t capable of reproducing and their wars only cost them their existence. Conflict always comes and as it leaves, it takes the existence of many gods. The only way they managed to resolve one of the many was to create their legacy.

One of them knew that it was only themselves that would cost their extinction and no treaty; no alliance could ever stop that. Truces only seemed to last an eon at most before conflict breaks their peace and celestial blood was shed again.

No longer hoping to stop their inevitable extinction, the gods created their legacy instead. They created a planet wherein they put the sea and sky. A place seemed too stale so they filled it with creatures. Untiring birds flew the skies days and nights while fish that never stopped swimming roamed the seas.

One god found it unnatural since the celestials themselves tire yet their creations did not. So the god wiped them out and recreated the creatures once again. Fish became hungry just as the birds tired flapping. The sky creations had nowhere to rest and most of them ended up dying on the sea, devoured by fish.

Another god created the lands where he placed trees that reached to the sky so that every bird may rest with ease. For the creations hungered, the god created the trees to bear fruit.

Many gods joined in creating the world. Some created the insects, some created the climate, some created day and night while some just added contributions to what was already made. All that participated knew that it would be their legacy. Once they cease to exist, parts of them would live on.

Some gods found it taunting that the creatures had short lifespans. They said that it symbolized their disappearance. So these gods added one of their own creations—the fayfolk. They were the perfect beings, according to these gods since they need not eat to replenish their energy. Nor did they need to rest. However, the creations seemed to alter the reality which the first gods placed.

They didn’t obey the law placed and it could distort the entire world, destroying hundreds and thousands of years work. So the gods that created the feyfolk bound them to the environment. The fayfolk were connected to trees and plants, life extending as far as the anchor to which they were bound.

Other gods weren’t happy to the creation of the fays. They were but conscious plants, some of them said, so the opposing gods created the animals—in the image of the fays however less magical. They established a rule that no creation should resemble the gods’ image.

For each living creation, a god must place a portion of their essence to give life, hence, weakening them. The gods with dark hair turned white, the gods with tight skin, sagged just as the gods that once stood straight slumped forward. They didn’t stop. They never did for a tiny portion of their essence created life which then creates another and passes it on.

As for the gods that created the fays, their essences remained aplenty.

The world they created was far beyond perfect. The animals seemed savage and had no regards for one another. They behaved like fish—the larger ones devouring the smaller ones, said one god and pointed out that they should have just created more fish if their animals would only kill one another.

So the gods that created the animals gathered what was left of their strength and pulled out the savageness of every animal and replaced it with intelligence. What existed can no longer be erased so the gods concentrated the savageness of every animal and it manifested itself in the form of a dagger.

Since nothing physical can exist in the plain of the celestials, the gods placed the dagger in the hands of the fays for something exists within the mammals that could doom them all—the hunger for power. The fays were pure just as they were perfect to be. When the gods pulled out the savageness of the mammals, portions of it remained and it interacted with intelligence which then birthed evil.

With evil came death and so, the mammals didn’t stop killing each other then. The gods believed, however, that peace would come to their creations. Until then, the gods created the Shadowlands where the souls would be stored. Once peace was met, the souls could be purified and released back into the world in another body for a new beginning.

The gods created the warden of the Shadowland—death to escort the lost into the shadows.

Many gods were opposed to how the world was created and many were also satisfied. The opposing half chose to erase the world and start with another however all of them already used up most of their essences. They could no longer build another world.

The opposing group pushed forth and attempted to destroy the world. The remaining half protected the world and celestial blood was shed once again. The blood of the celestials rained upon the world, giving birth to magic as well as new evils.

The gods that protected the world reigned victorious however fewer of them remain now. With the last of them, they watch over the world.


	3. Shadowlands and Shadows

When life was created, death came with it. To create life, the gods placed their essences to not only mammals but everything in the world that has life. When a creation has life, it could create another without taking the smallest portion from the original essence. When a creation dies, the essence cannot disappear so it manifests itself in another form—the soul or as the mammals call it, the shadow. The shadow does not always have to be conscious. Since the shadow is the essence itself, it is but a breath of life. However, the shadows of mammals are conscious because of memory. Upon death, the memories bond with the shadow, giving it consciousness unless purified.

Shadows roam the world without direction, without purpose since it can never interact with anything. A shadow cannot be seen by a mortal’s eyes. Nor could it be felt. Only Death can escort the shadow into the Shadowlands.

When the gods created the Shadowlands, it was similar to creating another world. They exerted an enormous amount of power in creating the dimension. The same process was performed when they created the world only that, the Shadowlands was an unfinished canvas. It was only to store the souls of the dead—to keep the essences of the gods until peace comes to all in the land.

For the Shadowlands to be connected to the world, the gods had to place the Shadow Gates—a dimensional rift that alters the reality. It could destroy the entire world since it bended the physical laws so the gods created a solution of only opening it once every century—when its distortion of reality subsides.

While the gate is closed, Death roams the world collecting shadows.

When the Shadow Gates open, thousands of shadows escape. Shadows that have been to the Shadowlands before manifest a physicality which alter their form to become prone to death once again. Should they escape death long enough until the Shadow Gates close, they become mortal with ghostly powers.

If a shadow that manifested a physical form dies, the essence is destroyed, erasing them from existence.


	4. The Crimson Storm

When half of the gods decided to wipe the world from existence and began anew, the other half refused and sacrificed their existence protecting the world created. In the celestial plane, the gods fought another war though all of them were weak.

The gods of the fays—the much stronger ones stood by to protect the world for a selfish reason. They didn’t want to waste more of their essences. They stood by the side of the creators of the lands, the skies, the seas and the seasons. The opposing group—the gods that created the Shadowlands and the deity, Death—much weaker than their enemies, pushed to wipe the world clean.

The neutral gods—the creators of the animals—were too weak to even participate in the fight however; they were still wiped out by the gods that wanted to erase the world. They anticipated their cessation from the hands of the enemies and so, one of them came down the world and made sure that, should ever the gods that wanted to erase the creation triumph, the animals and the fays would be capable of defending themselves.

On the earth stood one god who introduced himself to the northerners as the Lion. The animals yielded to the god the moment they saw him descend from the sky. Even though the god looked nothing like a lion, the animals had faith that he was so.

The Lion used his remaining essence to imbue four artifacts that could kill a celestial: the Swift Claws of the South, which he placed in Prowlos; the Herding Whip of the East, which he placed in Noctus; the Singing Bow of the West, which he placed in Minitia and the Long Sword of the North, which he placed in Grimburrow.

The Lion vanished quickly after placing the last of his essence on the last artifact. He trusted four acolytes to deliver the artifacts to its places and trusted them to enlighten the animals of its purpose. The Lion wanted no glory for his appearance for what was glory to the nonexistent? His glory was his legacy which his acolytes carried.

The war of the gods proceeded in the heavens. For every god that was slain, his blood rained into the world, disturbing reality but not powerful enough to distort it. The spilled essences of the gods were absorbed by the world, giving birth to magic. It stormed blood for one year in the world, mostly affecting the north.

The sorcerers were the first animals to discover the powers in the environment. With enough practice, the sorcerers were able to harness the magic in the environment and use it to conjure spells and summon beings from the Shadowlands.

As magic evolved, so did its practitioners. The scholars, which happened to discover magic, studied its properties and didn’t rely on just harnessing the essence from the environment. They gathered it among themselves and understood how it worked. They created spell books and potions—methods of proper conjuring and summoning. Not long after, they called themselves wizards and persecuted the sorcerers, whom they said, controlled what they do not understand.

This created the first divide of animals—the sorcerers and the wizards.

As time went on, the essences of the gods that were spilled on the world became less and less. Sorcerers and wizards alike mined the powers, keeping it to them. The wizards created towers which absorbed all the magic in its radius and the sorcerers copied them.

Soon, magic became not only for everyone but only for those who practiced it. Eventually, with the centuries of wars between wizards and sorcerers, their numbers dwindled. Since magic wasn’t just for anyone to use and its practitioners became less and less, the reality of magic became stories to entertain younglings.


	5. The Four Acolytes

When the Lion came down the earth and explained his purpose, many brave mammals wished to stay by his side and serve him. However the Lion didn’t need brave mammals. He needed the intelligent ones. Of the hundreds of animals that swore their loyalty, the Lion chose four:  Lord Leodore Lionheart of the South, Lady Fru Fru of the West, Ser Gareth Wolfsbane of the East and Stu Hopps of the North.

The Lion took his four acolytes with him to the center of Zoolann and there, he enlightened them of everything. He told them the stories of his kin and of how they were always in conflict. He told them the story of why they created the world. He told them why came down the earth and chose his acolytes.

“I fear that the world we created would be destroyed,” the Lion said, “I fear for my legacy but most of all, I fear for you all.”

The Lion explained that only through peace will the animals live once again after death. Until then, their shadows were kept in the Shadowlands.

“The four of you will live again,” The Lion said, “For you will all bring peace.”

Lord Leodore stepped forward, “Is it a prophecy, your divinity?”

The Lion nodded to disagree, “I may be a god but I cannot tell the future. Nor my kin can.”

“How do you know that we will live again?” asked Lady Fru Fru.

“The deity, Death, will keep your shadows inside your crypts. And when the time has come for you to live again, you will. Out of bones or even ashes, you _will_ come back flesh and blood to bring peace.”

The acolytes bowed and presented their weapons to the Lion.

Lord Leodore Lionheart offered his claws. Lady Fru Fru offered her bow. Ser Gareth Wolfsbane offered his whip. Stu Hopps offered his long sword.

After the Lion embedded the last of his essence, he sat on the grass. Without a last farewell or a warning, he lied on the dirt and became one with it. The whole meadow lit up as if a million fireflies were under it and the acolytes felt serenity become them all.

They were enemies before they were gathered by the Lion and the Lion didn’t say or do anything for them to become allies… just that, after the Lion vanished, the acolytes knew that they were at peace.

***

Noctus, as any other kingdom, treated preys as slaves. Their royalty—the wolves—ruled the lands and kept the preys at hard labor. The population of preys was mostly sheep and the oppression could get as gruesome as a simple mistake.

One day though, everything was about to change.

Ser Gareth Wolfsbane returned after a year of being sent by his king into the commotion that happened outside Noctus. There was a rumor that a celestial descended from heaven and brought with him powers not even kings could dream of.

After hearing of a possible power the king could possess himself, he sent his finest knight, Ser Gareth Wolfsbane to serve the celestial and seize his power should he ever see an opportunity.

One year later, Ser Gareth returned before the throne of King Fang the Black, bearing no good news but a message of peace.

“You return to me a year later after I ordered you to bring me power I could only hope to achieve but instead you’re here, before my throne kneeling with a request to free the slaves?”

Ser Gareth looked up to the king. “Yes, my king for we are all created as equals—predator and prey, wolf and sheep as any other animal.”

The king laughed. His voice echoed in the entire throne room. “You tell that to the sheep. If we are all created as equals, there wouldn’t be predator or prey. There wouldn’t be big or small. There would only be wolves. Ser Gareth, you are my finest knight but you failed to do what I asked for. With that, I take your head.”

“Not if you free the slaves first and grant them equal rights,” Ser Gareth stood up.

“Fool!” the king yelled. “Guards, seize him!”

Ser Gareth was cornered and he hated what he was about to resort to. However, he had a duty to fulfill and he can’t risk failing. From his harness, he took out the Herding Whip. With one wield of the blessed artifact, every guard that approached him were cut in half.

Archers that stationed at the balconies shot their arrows but with just one swirl of the whip, their projectiles were deflected.

“Usurper!” King Fang the Black cowered on his throne. “You stole the power of a god to take my throne from me! You dare call yourself a knight of Noctus?!”

“I don’t…” Ser Gareth wielded his whip once more. “I am a knight of the Lion!”

***

The giant gates of Minitia burned. Their enemies—the cats of Prowlos—held their banners high. Most of them had the emblem of the Lionhearts.

Lady Fru Fru was devastated to witness such an attack while she was away, keen on serving the Lion.

Minitia was a small kingdom but it had walls that were tougher than rhinos and taller than giraffes. It was the sole defense of her kingdom. Seeing as it almost fell, she had to do something.

The warriors of Minitia were big of heart though small they were. They did everything to hold off the cats but once the wall was breached, the enemies could just march in and take over the kingdom.

Lady Fru Fru rushed to a secret tunnel which took her inside Minitia. She stationed on the wall and took out the Singing Bow. The Lion blessed it for her to defend themselves from the evil gods, not take away the lives of animals but she had no choice.

Without an arrow in her hand, she pulled the string of the bow taut and with one release, it shot out an invisible projectile. It was swift, travelling unseen with nothing but its tailwind of grass and dirt proving its existence. One projectile went past the armor of a lioness and didn’t stop there. The invisible arrow only seemed to stop as it hit the ground.

Lady Fru Fru shot more invisible arrows and the bow sang for every time she released the string. The air circled Lady Fru Fru, creating a whirlwind that protected her from arrows in her direction. The enemies dwindled and Lady Fru Fru stopped as she witnessed Lord Leodore Lionheart approach the battlefield.

She pulled her string taut, aiming at the lion’s heart but she stopped there.

The Lord of the Lionhearts only came to retrieve his men and apologized in place of the king of Prowlos who planned the attack a fortnight ago.

The two acolytes met each other at the gate.

“I apologize for the damage my mammals had caused you, Lady Fru Fru,” Lord Lionheart bent down. “I was on my way to Prowlos, to talk the king of signing a peace treaty with the three kingdoms and then I saw the banner of my house marching toward Minitia.”

“After the attack, I cannot say for sure if my father would accept any peace treaty but... I’ll talk to him. I just fear that if he wouldn’t agree, I’m left with no choice but to… as we are all.”

“It’s difficult—almost impossible killing our kings if they do not agree,” Lord Lionheart said, “However sacrifices must be made. We cannot war with ourselves when anytime the evil gods could just wipe us all out. The war isn’t between us animals. It’s us and the evil gods.”

Lady Fru Fru nodded her head, “Fine weapon, the Singing Bow.” She displayed the bow. “However, very tragic… I hope you never have to use your weapon.”

“I hope so as well.”

“I wish you fair travels back to Prowlos, Lord Lionheart.”

“And I wish you fair argument with your father, Lady Fru Fru.”

***

“Words travel faster than horses.” King Leon was disappointed with Lord Lionheart who knelt before him. “We were this close in breaching Minitia—this close,” He estimated with his claws almost touching each other.

“Minitia is a peaceful kingdom, Sire, as all kingdoms.”

“Bah!” the king yelled.

“Minitia never attacked us. They are not a threat.”

“They’ve killed thousands of us—”

“Only because we marched towards their wall,” Lord Lionheart raised his voice.

“Cowards—every last one of them. Hiding behind their wall. And you,” the King pointed, “You disappear with no trace, with no reason and then you show up to me begging to sign a peace treaty with not just Minitia but Noctus and Grimburrow as well?”

“Yes.”

“Insolence!” the king yelled. “The North used to be the wolves’ kingdom. Wolves—fine and strong predators but what happened? Taken by rabbits and other small preys! We do not oppress Minitia, Lionheart, we are trying to prevent them from taking our kingdom! We do not underestimate our enemies, you know that.”

“Yes, my king,” Lord Lionheart agreed, “But the rabbits and other small preys took the North for a noble reason. The North was home of the fays and the wolves were destroying it. The rabbits were the only ones capable of protecting the fays.”

The king looked sourly at Lionheart. “The fays?” he asked. “You must be mad. Where have you been that you return to me spitting stories about myths that don’t even exist?”

“I assure you, your highness, that they’re as real as you and I.”

“I will not sign a peace treaty and you will lose your name and your honor along with your head!”

Leodore sighed as he tied his claws tight around his knuckles. “This was what I was trying to prevent.” And then he said to his self, “I guess I ended up using this after all…”

***

The North cheered Stu’s return. He presented the Long Sword before his king and was finally honored and dubbed as a knight of Grimburrow.

“Ser Stu Hopps,” the king said, “You have done well in securing the safety of not only us but the entire world. No other mammal should wield the Long Sword unless you deem them worthy.”

“It is an honor, your grace,” Ser Stu looked behind him—to the crowd of blissful faces. “I shall keep the blessed artifact in my family. I shall teach my kittens to wield them and choose whoever’s worthy to pass it on.”

The king raised a brow. “Pass it on?”

“We are in grave danger, your grace, and we do not know when the evil gods could wreak havoc. This Long Sword is but one of four artifacts bestowed upon us by one of the gods to fight his kin that want to erase this world.”

“I see…” the king said, “Would you live in the realm of the fays then so that your lifespan may be preserved until the time of war?”

“I cannot, your grace. I have to die as the three acolytes, Leodore Lionheart of Prowlos, Lady Fru Fru of Minitia and Ser Gareth Wolfsbane of Noctus. But we shall return once we are needed.”

“You expect me to sign a peace treaty with the three kingdoms then?”

“Yes, your grace.”

The king sighed but agreed to it, nevertheless. “Call in the maester and have him forge letters to the three kingdoms. We shall meet at the center of Zoolann to declare peace with one another.”

Peace reigned the following century until something threatened to break it.


	6. The Fifth Artifact

When Ser Gareth Wolfsbane abolished slavery among prey, a particular sheep stepped forth and wanted to serve him. Her name was Dawn—a sheep of small stature but valiant heart. Dawn was grateful to Ser Gareth and wanted to dedicate her life serving him as an expression of her gratitude and the wolf knight took her in, training her to become a fighter.

Ser Gareth taught Dawn the way of the dagger since the sheep was too small to wield a broad sword or a war hammer—any large weapon of any sort. Daggers best suited Dawn and the sheep never felt the clutch of her hands so perfectly belonging with the blades.

On the times when Ser Gareth and Dawn wouldn’t spar, the wolf taught passed on the knowledge of the Lion to the sheep. Ser Gareth revealed the creation to Dawn and the reason for their existence.

“Gods behave like us animals,” Ser Gareth said, “They also resolve conflicts with bloodshed. The only difference is that gods cannot reproduce and so… their numbers dwindle.”

Dawn absorbed all the knowledge Ser Gareth taught her and she trained every day to become a fierce fighter. She became the first prey in the east to ever beat large predators in combat. And Ser Gareth took pride in his small disciple.

Dawn never dreamed of possessing a holy artifact. Nor did she ever think that Ser Gareth would hand down the Herding Whip to her. It was a responsibility she was capable of handling yet did not anticipate.

Ser Gareth had planned to pass the Herding Whip to Dawn by decree. On the same day of his announcement, Ser Gareth was assassinated inside his own quarter. A group marched inside the capitol, accusing Dawn of Ser Gareth’s assassination and the sheep was seized to be hanged the day after.

Dawn prayed inside her cold cell—if any of the gods could hear her—she be saved. She carried all the knowledges Ser Gareth passed on to her. She cannot simply take them with her to the grave. Ser Gareth’s legacy should live on.

By miracle, or by one of the gods that heard her, Dawn had an opportunity to escape. She disappeared into the night under the full moon, prowling by the east’s border.

Dawn intended to find out who assassinated Ser Gareth and she spent the next few moons investigating. Eventually, she found Ser Gareth’s assassins and killed them off one by one. Dawn became an assassin ever since.

She wanted to steal the Herding Whip for it wasn’t safe in the hands of heretics that claimed it was a gift from the Sheep—a false god of their own. But she remembered one thing Ser Gareth told her: as long as the artifact is in the hands of Easterners, it’s where it’s supposed to be until the time of reckoning.

Dawn fled the east for her name became notorious. She headed north—the friendliest kingdom to the preys where she learned of the northerners’ mysticism and methods. She trained the way of the North while keeping Ser Gareth’s teaching fresh inside her heart.

Under Ser Stu Hopps, she took shelter and the bunny knight welcomed her in Ser Gareth’s honor.

Dawn had few regrets and one of those regrets was not being able to protect her master.

“He’ll come back,” Ser Stu said. “As all of us once we are long gone. The Lion may yet need of us in the future—that is for certain.”

Dawn forced out a smile. “It’s a shame that I won’t be alive once that happens… I want to look Ser Gareth in the eyes once again and apologize to him properly for his early dismissal.”

“You’ve nothing to apologize for,” Ser Stu said. “I’ll be sure to tell Ser Gareth about your bravery, young one.”

As Dawn had lived and trained under Ser Stu Hopps, she learned the things Ser Gareth kept secret to her. The wolf knight didn’t confide because he didn’t trust Dawn. He confided for the sake of the northerner’s knowledge.

“There are some things only the Northerners have the right to tell anyone.” Dawn recalled what Ser Gareth said.

Ser Stu taught Dawn about the fays in the northernmost as well as the Long Sword of the North which she witnessed one time. She learned about how the fays lived and how magic was as real as any animal. Among all the awing secrets the north kept, Dawn was surprised at the fifth artifact most.

“It’s actually the first artifact according to the Lion,” Ser Stu said. “When the gods created us, we were all savages—predator and prey alike. That was something the gods couldn’t erase so they harnessed that savageness and it took form of a weapon—a dagger. Its properties are a mystery but without doubt very powerful. I’d say even more powerful than the four artifacts combined.”

Dawn vowed, as a Northerner would, to keep what’s in the north remain in the north.

The next decades, she spent in peace, fully becoming a northerner until a similar tragedy befell her once again.

A group of heretics that called themselves ‘The Assassins’ Conclave’ charged Ser Stu’s keep, hoping to steal the Long Sword of the North.

Ser Stu was assassinated in his sleep but the heretics failed to retrieve the sword. Ser Stu’s chosen son wielded the artifact and vanquished the assassins with a single swing. Dawn defended the keep until the assassins retreated.

After all that though, she witnessed a squadron head toward the grove of the fays.

Ser Stu’s chosen son, named after his father, arrived outside the keep where Dawn was.

“They know about the fifth artifact,” Dawn said.

Without wasting any more time, Stu and Dawn rushed to the grove.

The fays were in panic, hiding inside trees and rocks—inside their elements. One fay—a nine tailed fox was bathed in her own blood, the life slowly fading.

Dawn approached the nine tailed fox.

The mystical fay looked at Dawn and pointed toward the center of the grove before the life faded from her eyes. Vines entangled the body of the nine tailed fox, cocooning her.

Stu went ahead of Dawn and the sheep followed closely behind.

Multiple fays were dying in the grove—some of them already dead and were encased in vines. Dawn was enraged. The sacred place had been desecrated by outsiders.

The assassins were huddled before the fifth artifact—the finest dagger Dawn has ever seen.

One dying fay—a bunny dryad—clutched on Dawn’s tunic, warning her to never touch the dagger. Dawn nodded a head and then watched as one of the assassins try to possess the dagger.

A bright light emanated from the blade, almost turning night into day. Thereafter the assassin—a wolf—dropped down on all fours, grunting and growling. The other assassins were clueless to what happened and tried approaching their ally but the wolf pounced on them, tearing them to shreds.

Another assassin snatched the dagger, putting it inside a bag but not long after, he became savage as well. Two savage animals finished the last of the assassins as the fays fled and left Stu and Dawn to fight them off.

Stu expelled the first wolf and Dawn, the other.

The bag where the fifth artifact was contained in lied within a pool of blood.

“Let the fays return the dagger,” Stu breathed, wiping blood that tainted his fur.

Dawn wasn’t herself. She was in a trance, walking toward the sack. When Stu turned to her, the sheep was already bending down, opening the sack. He tried stopping Dawn but was blinded by the light that emanated from the artifact.

Stu readied his Long Sword for a savage sheep but there was none.

Dawn clutched the blade inside her hand and with the other, she ran on the steel body of the dagger. It was the finest weapon she ever touched and it called her.

Stu was surprised, hoping that his father was watching this.

Dawn walked up to the platform and returned the dagger in its place.

One by one, the fays appeared, clapping their hands and cheering Stu and Dawn.

“The fifth artifact has been wielded by an animal,” one fay said. “It could only mean she has the _power_.”

An elder fay in the image of a fox floated on the platform and took the dagger. She presented it to Dawn.

“You’ll see on the dagger’s body a writing of the ancient ones—the first fays that were created. It cannot be read by any mammal’s eyes but when I saw you wield the blade, you seem to understand what was written.”

Dawn nodded and quoted. “The wielder shall rise again.”

“And do you know what that means?” the elder fay asked.

Dawn nodded up and down. “With the four acolytes, I shall return once again.”

With Dawn and Stu’s heroism, a northern tale was born and through the decades, anyone in Zoolann who knew about the fifth artifact called it Dawn’s Dagger.


	7. Shadowhunters' Tavern

Once every century, the Shadow Gates open and once every century, thousands of shadows escape, manifesting physicality once the Shadow Gates close. Most of the souls that escape either dread inside the Shadowlands or long to finish an unfinished business in life however most also realize that their unfinished business can no longer be finished for a century has already passed.

The Shadow Hunters’ Tavern was formed by a group of mercenaries wanting to find a shot at easy money. They roam Zoolann, capturing shadows that escaped the Shadowlands and binding them to an oath of obedience. After securing the shadows with a spell, they would sell them to the Mages’ Citadel where the wizards could do as they please with them.

Rogue wizards and sorcerers alike do businesses with the Shadow Hunters mainly because they need extra protection as they conjure spells or they simply want to have servants. A shadow that is bound by the oath of obedience become one’s familiar.

Shadow Hunters sell familiars by giving a seal to the buyer and the buyer would burn the seal, tying the familiars to them by magic. A familiar can never be free only passed on to whoever kills its master or to whoever the master assigns them to.


	8. Mages' Citadel

After the Crimson storm, it took decades for mammals to discover magic and decades to wield it. The first to control the magic were the sorcerers but were surpassed by the wizards. The great divide among wizards and sorcerers resulted in wars and to fight the wars meant they needed an efficient way to gather power.

Since the wizards were scholars and studied magic itself, they discovered a way to harness it. They built magic towers which gathered the spilled essences of the gods in the environment. Towers in the north, south, east and west but their greatest tower lie in the north—the Mages’ citadel.

It is where one learns magic through years of understanding before practicing the actual stuff. Through the centuries however, magic became nothing but a myth as its practitioners dwindled.


End file.
